It would be different maybe if another country invaded the United States (like we did Iraq) and want to change our government. Probably most people would fight that. But Vietnam and Iraq are "mistakes." Almost everybody knows it. Why should we die for a mistake? Why should 3,000 men and women die in Iraq for a mistake? More than 60% of the people in the U.S. are against the war in Iraq. They don't want it. And now the president wants to send 21,500 more troops there. That makes about 2,388 more who will also die. it's like throwing good money after bad. We never going to "win."
Anybody who goes in the military now must be just plain stupid. People that join up believe they'll find out what they're worth, how brave they can be, but once they get in combat, they see it is all a lie, that there is no glory to it, war is ugly. And once they are there, they got no choice but kill or be killed. Soldiers fight to survive and to help their friends survive. Hedges tells about a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who said, "...none of these boys is fighting for home, for the flag, for all that crap the politicians feed the public. They are fighting for each other, just for each other" (cited in Hedges, 2001, p. 38).
Something else happens too. Sometimes combat gets to be an "addictive narcotic" (Hedges, 2001,p. 40). Killing turns into a pleasure. They get so they like the adrenaline high from the danger. They get addicted to it! I know a man who served twice in Vietnam and begged to go back. He such an enthusiastic killer that the Marine Corps doctors say he is not fit for duty. He loves violence and killing. Now the VA doctors give him tranquilizers and other drugs and tell him he needs to learn to manage his anger. I don't want to be like that.
I think most people who go in the military don't think about the killing they'll probably have to do. They just want to get out of their bad neighborhood. My grandma used to say, "Like out the frying pan into the...
Think about it. There's always something left over at the end to go back and fight again about. We fought Hitler, but now we got neo-Nazi racists around who'd like to get rid of all the Jews and Blacks. We went to the Persian Gulf and fought Saddam Hussein, and ten years later we got to go back in and finish him off and topple his government. Doing that caused a civil war, so now we're supposed to control the two sides -- Soumi and Shihite (people we never heard of) from killing each other over whose going to be in charge. They have hated each other for a thousand years. Plus, the government that we set up -- that's supposed to be so good and democratic -- really likes Iran better than us, so now we're going to fight Iran too. It just goes on and on. When is enough? The father in Boyz in the Hood (1991) could be talking to me. Like he said, "You're my only son and I ain't gonna lose you to no bull*****." it's not worth it.
References
Boyz in the Hood (1991). Film, 112 minutes. Columbia Tristar Home Video.
The demographics of military enlistment after 9/11 web site: http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/em987.cfm
Hedges, C. (2001). War is a force that gives us meaning. New York: Public Affairs.
Marriage a casuality of the war (2005). People, 17 Oct, 64 (16) 128-130, 132.
Military pay charts - Basic U.S. military pay chart January 1, 2006: http://www.militarypay.com/MilitaryPayChartsJanuary12006.html. Retrieved 2/27/07.
Oaths of enlistment and oaths of office web site: http://www.army.mil/CMH/faq/oaths.htm.
Price, R.G. (2003). Casualties of war - Putting American casualties in perspective: http://www.rationalrevolution.net/articles/casualties_of-war.htm.
Sherman, N. (2006). Their great…
